Education:
BA, MA University of North Texas
PhD, Rice University
Dr. Bezusko is a scholar of contemporary American literature and culture with particular expertise in poverty studies and K-12 education policy. She is currently working on two books-in-progress: The Traffic in Poverty and the (Un)Making of American Geographies and Markets of Sorrow, Narratives of Grit. The former project develops a critical theory of poverty to examine how narratives about the poor influence welfare policy; the latter project examines how the turn to character traits, particularly "grit," in contemporary K-12 education reform narratives contributes to the school to prison pipeline. Her work has appeared in SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics. Dr. Bezusko completed her PhD at Rice University and has held positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Tulane University. She has taught courses in ELA instruction and assessment, rhetoric and composition, carceral studies, literary theory, American literature, LGBTQ studies, and women's studies. She is committed to creating transformative learning experiences by helping students develop the critical tools and conceptual language to express their experiences in and of the world.